Books/GamesOfDivinity
Games of Divinity
Published August 1, 2002; 128 pages. Softcover.
Writers: R(ebecca) Sean Borgstorm, Michael Kessler, and John Snead
This book is out of print.
Review total: 1
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Review by Shataina
Whenever anyone asks me what my favourite "Exalted" supplement is, I always say "Games of Divinity", which covers the demons, elementals and spirits of the world. The book has its flaws, of course, among them the flaws common to every White Wolf book (incredibly bad editing, inconsistency between writers, etc). The only problem really relevant to this book specifically, though, is the way that the Exalted writers have chosen to treat Charms and other magics for spirits, elementals and demons. They've put practically no effort into it, providing a limited selection of rather generic powers (although it should be noted that they do tell us to try to make these Charms manifest in a different and interesting way for every spirit; they just never bother trying to do so themselves).
It should also be noted that you don't need to buy the book to get access to canonical spirit / demon / elemental Charms; on the White Wolf website, there's a free download of all such Charms.
I also have a small personal problem with the extent to which the writers have chosen to underpower their gods, demons, etc in order to cater to the "But my |337 Dawn Caste with all his kewl p0w3rz should be able to take down the God of War, wahh!" crowd. However, as the authors themselves have pointed out multiple times, it's not that hard to power up the gods and demons if you feel it necessary.
The real point of a supplement like "Games of Divinity" is great concepts, and it provides those in abundance. The book is full of interesting spirits and elementals, with notes on their personalities, tendencies, affinities, and all that good stuff. It also has some great information on spirit / elemental origins, courts, and so on (although much of this information is reprinted or retconned in "Exalted: the Sidereals"). Best of all, Rebecca Borgstrom's section on demons and the demon city is quite possibly the best piece of RPG writing I've ever read. Really. I couldn't possibly compliment it enough, so I'm not going to try. Read it. Love it. Cherish it.
Unfortunately for everyone, this book is out of print, and last I checked it was going for prices like $120 or more. So you may have to be a little creative about how you get access to it. Fortunately, as I already noted, the best part of this book is the concepts; it's easy enough to stat out Shalrina, the goddess of identity, on your own time once you've glanced over her writeup, and you'll probably do a better job at balancing her than the writers did anyway. What I recommend is that you beg, borrow and / or steal to manage to read over this book, but don't worry too much about owning it. (Of course, if you really get desperate, I might be willing to sell you my copy, but it'll probably cost about one soul, and your firstborn child to boot.)
